


To Be Back in Eden

by Sorryimnotthatkindofdoctor



Category: Hardy Boys - Fandom, Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon, Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Clairvoyant Joe, Depression, Emotional Support Animals, Gen, Happy Ending?, Panic Attacks, Service Dogs, supernatural universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 05:57:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11247714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorryimnotthatkindofdoctor/pseuds/Sorryimnotthatkindofdoctor
Summary: What if the hellhounds that have become attached to Joe act as his service animals during his bad days? Like they help calm him down if he has a breakdown or a flashback, or they'll just puppy pile him so he can sit and pet them in the quiet atmosphere and everything is nice and calm.The title comes from the following quote by Milan Kundera: “To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace. “





	To Be Back in Eden

Joe had started seeing things when he was two years old. His parents hadn’t understood why he cried at night or pointed to what they saw as empty corners. Frank hadn’t seen anything either, but he could tell his little brother was terrified, so he used to sneak into Joe’s room & keep him company or stand guard. By the time Joe had learned to talk, his parents had been looking into psychiatric help.

Once again Frank, had come to his rescue. He helped Joe to stop reacting & allowed the boy to talk to him without judgement. He could see the scratches some of the spirits left on his baby brother’s arms that his parents were so sure Joe was doing to himself, but he’d actually seen some of them appear out of nowhere.

For the next 14 years of his life, Joe basically lived a lie with only Frank knowing the truth. His big brother served as his safe space. When things got ugly in either the spirit world or the real one, Frank would hold him. When Joe wanted to disappear from the world, Frank made sure he had a reason to stay. And when they fell into the world of hunting, finally figuring out a way to send the darker spirits that haunted the blonde out of this world for good, Frank had been there, too. His big brother had basically tried to do everything to make Joe’s world better & provide a light in the dark when things just go too much.

The first time Joe had seen a hellhound, he’d been pretty sure he’d actually cracked. The beasts were… well, at first, he’d thought they were hideous. They looked like dogs, but huge. Slobbering jaws, sharp teeth, & those eyes… They glowed red like hell fire. He’d heard them first – the loud baying, the harsh growls, their fast footfalls. He’d been the most scared he’d ever been in his entire life when they’d come running up to him. Joe had been pretty sure that it was the end…

Except they’d stopped.

Joe had turned his face away, eyes screwed closed. But when nothing happened, he opened one eye & peered around, jumping a little to see himself ringed by a pack of hounds, tongues hanging out. He’d watched them carefully for a few moments, but they just watched him right back.

“Uh… sit?” he’d said, not knowing what else to do. To his surprise, the whole pack had done so, their eyes glowing a warm blue. By the time Frank had found him, Joe had of course named them all. And from that point on, the hounds came with him, often loping alongside the road as he & Frank drove along in the van. They hunted with them, protected him & Frank, & even saved them from other hellhounds.

Joe wasn’t sure what made this group special & look to him, but after they saved the brothers from a pack of werewolves, even Frank stopped grumbling.

And then Joe discovered something else. It wasn’t just that the hounds looked after him when he was on a hunt. They just plain looked after him.

He’d started having panic attacks as a child before he could really understand what was going on with him. Frank had done his best to help, but he usually could only work to help Joe after one had started. But one day after a close call had left Frank needing to sleep off an injury, Joe had felt an attack clawing at his chest. He didn’t want to wake his brother, so he’d stepped outside to try & deal with it on his own.

The hound that looked closest to a German Shepherd had met him at the motel door, pushing him back inside the room. “Hey,” Joe grunted quietly, glancing back at Frank. “Move it Clarence. I… I need to go outside.”

But the hound hadn’t let him. Instead, he’d pushed Joe back to sit down in the small chair, basically sitting on his feet. Then the hound had put his front paws up on Joe’s knees & pressed his chest to the teen’s, almost like… like a hug?

“I gotta… I need…” Joe’s breathing was dangerously close to going super-sonic. He wrapped his arms around the hound to try & push it away so he could make another run for the door. And that’s when he noticed just how soft the fur was. It had always looked so stiff & bristled from a distance. But it wasn’t. He huffed out a breath, fingers tightening in the fur.

“I need to get out,” he whispered, but he didn’t try to move. Clarence rested his head on Joe’s head & the teen had leaned against the hound’s shoulder. His breathing settled as his arms held on tight. The hound didn’t try to move away or make any sound until the tension fled from Joe’s frame. Then he pulled back & licked over his cheeks.

“T-th-thanks,” Joe said, managing a small laugh as he fought off the hot, rough tongue.

When he’d woke from a nightmare one night, Fluffy (because of course, he’d named the biggest of the hounds Fluffy – it had been an opportunity he couldn’t pass up) was at the edge of his bed. Joe had feared for a moment that his nightmare had been real, but the big Mastiff-looking animal had simply climbed onto the bed & flopped down beside him, one leg draped across Joe’s middle. It was so similar to the way Frank had used to lay over him when they were younger, using the weight of his body to remind Joe that he wasn’t alone & that the older boy was watching out for him. Joe buried himself in the big hound’s chest & drifted back to a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.

After that, at least one of the hounds always slept with Joe. A few of them had started looking to Frank & stayed with him, too, helping with his nightmares & flashbacks. The teen had also noticed that a majority of the spirits & shadow people that had plagued his reality for so many years had all but stopped visiting him. He could only figure it was because of the hounds. They kept them away.

The issues of Joe’s lifetime didn’t magically disappear because of the hounds, but they did help, giving Frank an assist when the older boy felt overwhelmed with his own problems, too. The hounds protected them, nuzzled them, scared off the nightmares, & chased aside the shadows.

On the really bad days when Joe just didn’t even want to get out of bed, Frank & the hounds would drag him & his blankets onto the floor with all the pillows. The two teens were shuffled into a pile in the middle, with hounds laying all around them. Fluffy laid down to let them pillow against his belly. Clarence curled up at the back curve of Joe’s knees. Kelly & Max, the two Pitbull-esque hounds, lay at their backs, one per teen. The rest of the hounds wormed their way in & around them, creating a giant puppy pile around their boys.

It didn’t make it all go away, but it helped. Joe ran his fingers over the hounds’ fur & lost himself in the softness of it & the heat of their quiet panting & the thud of his brother’s heart under his ear.

And he knew that he wasn’t alone.

END


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